Real drawing in Epstein ‘birthday book’ appears to show him giving candy to children

In September 2025, people on social media shared a drawing purportedly included in an album of messages for the late disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein on his 50th birthday, in 2003. Epstein, a convicted sex offender with reported ties to elite figures, died in 2019.

On Sept. 8, the House Oversight Committee released the full album after subpoenaing Epstein’s estate for various documents related to him. 

One image that social media users claimed was included in Epstein’s “birthday book” was a drawing that appeared to show scenes of him handing candy and balloons to children and then, years later, receiving a massage from multiple scantily clad women. 

“Another submission in the Epstein ‘Birthday Book’ appears to show Epstein grooming young children to give him massages on the island,” an X user wrote (archived) on Sept. 8.

(@adamscochran on X)

The drawing also circulated in posts on Facebook and Reddit (archived here, here and here). 

Snopes reviewed the 238-page birthday album (archived) the House Oversight Committee released and confirmed that the drawing referenced in the social media posts did appear in the document. Therefore, we’ve rated this claim true. 

The drawing appeared on Page 155 of the album, in a section labeled “Friends.” The sketch depicted a man resembling Epstein handing out candy and balloons to three girls in an inset labeled “1983.” The rest of the image, labeled “2003,” showed what appeared to be the same man two decades later, with lighter-colored hair, lounging on a beach while receiving a massage from multiple women. A plane labeled “908JE,” seemingly meant to resemble Epstein’s infamous jet nicknamed the “Lolita Express,” also appeared in the background. 

(House Oversight Committee)

It remained unclear who drew the sketch, as it was not labeled or signed in the birthday album. 

The preceding page in the album featured a birthday note to Epstein that included doodles or clip art of women, an airplane and a mermaid, among other drawings. That note was signed “Joel,” but a last name wasn’t listed. 

(House Oversight Committee)

The two pages’ proximity to each other apparently led some social media users to speculate (archived) that Joel Pashcow, a businessman reported to be a longtime member of Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort, may have drawn the sketch depicting Epstein with children and older women. However, that claim was unconfirmed at the time of publishing.

According to The Wall Street Journal, who broke the story on U.S. President Donald Trump’s alleged lewd birthday letter to Epstein, Pashcow also wrote a letter in the book containing a crude joke about a woman who Epstein and Trump reportedly courted during the 1990s.

The letter appeared on the page directly following the sketch and included a photo of several people, including Epstein, holding an oversize check for $22,500. A caption beneath the photo read, in part, “Jeffrey showing early talents with money + women! Sells ‘fully depreciated’ [redacted] to Donald Trump for $22,500.”

(House Oversight Committee)

Snopes was unable to independently confirm whether Pashcow wrote that letter. We reached out to an email address associated with him for comment regarding both the sketch and the letter, and will update this story should we receive a response.